The Out Loud! Author Series, a project of the Metro Library Network (Marion, Hiawatha, and Cedar Rapids Public Libraries), is funded by the Giacoletto Foundation. Join us here at our blog to discuss this year's authors and books!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Sense of Place, Home

We will have to talk about the widow's thoughts on "home." Boy, that comes up a whole lot in the first 200 pages. One little thing that was interesting was how "worldly" she got to be after her 10-day honeymoon away from Falls. So far, it doesn't sound like she ever really leaves Falls again in any significant way, but when she got back from that trip, she understood something: "might Lucas' [dear old All-Round Store] seems so logically well-stocked because the other Falls' stores offer next to nothing?" She'd seen a "good-sized store" in Atlanta that sold ONLY straw hats -- FOR MEN! Any of you who are reading along have thoughts about Lucy's and Cap's homecoming after the honeymoon?

2 comments:

What I love about this section is that she feels like she suddenly understands her hometown better...or "sees" it more honestly...and yet her new worldliness doesn't solve any of the mysteries of her new home. There are still plenty of mysteries for her to solve even as her eyes are opened.

Thinking again about the theme of home as I finish up with Cap's adventure North to return Simon's watch. He felt like he was in a foreign country, tried to disguise his drawl, avoiding look at and talking to people, expected the houses to be painted blue and soldiers still to be in their uniforms eight years after the war. He was surprised to find so much was "ordinary." What was all the fuss about, then, if they're just like us?